So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. - Mark Twain, American Author

Thursday, November 11, 2010

UAE explorer sets Arctic Guinness world record

UAE-based British explorer, Adrian Hayes, gains his second world record for 2009 Arctic expedition

Adrian Hayes at the finish of his Greenland quest last year

The UAE’s world record-breaking polar explorer and adventurer Adrian Hayes has set a further world record for his unsupported journey across Greenland. The 2009 Emirates NBD Greenland Quest has been confirmed by Guinness World Records as the “longest Arctic unsupported snow-kiting expedition” in history.

During 2009, UAE-based British explorer Adrian Hayes, along with Canadian teammates Devon McDiarmid and Derek Crowe, spent 67 days covering a total distance of 4262kms before reaching the final destination of their historic vertical crossing of Greenland.

The route from the southern to northern tips of the Greenland ice cap and then onto north-west Greenland had never been completed before, and saw the trio endure extreme conditions and terrain, including wading through swathes of glacial melt water, falling through crevasses, battling fierce storms and braving temperatures as low as -30C. The team used kites and skis to transverse the enormous distance, fully managing their entire resources with two sleds attached by rope behind the men.

The accolade adds to Hayes’ previous Guinness world record, where he was recognised as reaching the Earth’s three poles (walking all the way to the North Pole, South Pole and the summit of Everest) in the shortest period of time in history between 2006 and 2007, becoming only the 15th person to then achieve the feat.

A former British Army Gurkha Officer and father of two, Hayes, is delighted with his second Guinness World Record: “Our expedition the length of Greenland was one of the most strategically challenging and difficult I have accomplished and, whilst I don’t do this for records sake, I’m delighted it has been recognised by Guinness – a nice recognition for a great team effort”

Records aside, Hayes is keen to reiterate the message of the expedition. “Part of the motivation behind the expedition was not to break records, but to draw the world's attention to the issue of economic, social and environmental sustainability. Climate change is just one adverse effect of living beyond our means and I used this journey as the most visible example that limitless exponential growth in a finite world will become impossible” says the ambassador for several sustainability bodies.